Prepositions of time

Prepositions of time

A preposition is a part of the speech that usually comes before a noun or a pronoun and connects it with another part of the sentence. There are different categories of prepositions – prepositions of place, prepositions of direction, prepositions of time, etc.

A preposition of time is a preposition which is used to discuss a specific time period such as date on the calendar, days of the week or parts of the day.

Some prepositions of time are the same as the prepositions of place, however they are used in a different way. 

Let’s see the meaning and examples of some prepositions of time:

preposition	explanation	example
in	refer to a general, long period of time	My birthday is in February.
on	refer to a specific period of time	See you on Monday.
at	refer to the most specific times	Meet me at 7 o’clock.
during	when something happened at the same time something else is happening	I stayed in the dormitory during my university education.
for	over a certain period of time (past till now)	I’ve lived abroad for 3 years now.
until/till	up to a certain time (how long something is going to last)	She seems mean until you get to know her.
since	refer to a point of time in the past when something began	I’ve made many friends since I moved into the dorm rooms.
from … to …	to show when something begins and ends	The meeting is from 7 to 9.
ago	refer to how far back in time something happened	I met my best friend a long time ago.
before	refer to any previous time to a specific point in time	I am always up before dawn.
by	means “not later than”	I promised to be back home by 7 p.m.
after	means “later in time than”	My headache went away after taking a nap.
to	telling the time, but referring to the number of minutes before the hour	It’s a quarter to three o’clock.
past	telling the time, but it refers to the amount of time past the hour	It’s ten past three.
between … and …	referring to the time that separates two points	I always stay with my grandparents between June and August.
within	refers to a short period of time during which something may occur	You should hear back from us within a week.

Read more about Prepositions of time: IN-ON-AT from general to specific in following page.

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Prepositions of time: IN, ON, AT

Read other related topics:

Prepositions of place and direction
Preposition of place: IN, ON, AT
Prepositions of time
Prepositions of time IN, ON, AT